Nokia to offer free navigation service

January 22, 2010|Associated Press

HELSINKI - Nokia Corp. said yesterday that it will offer free navigation services globally for users of its smartphones, in a drive to counter a similar move by Google Inc.

The application, with maps for more than 180 countries, will also have voice guidance in 46 languages in 74 countries.

It will be immediately available for download on Nokia’s Ovi Map site, and from March all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps. Users will also have free access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides that have information on more than 1,000 destinations globally.

“We can now put a complete navigation system in the palm of your hand, wherever in the world you are,’’ Nokia executive vice president Anssi Vanjoki said. “By adding cameras at no extra cost to our phones we quickly became the biggest camera manufacturer in the world. The aim of the new Ovi Maps is to enable us to do the same for navigation.’’

The announcement follows a similar move by Google to provide free navigation services on handsets. It also will pose a challenge for makers of personal navigational devices, like US-based Garmin Ltd. and TomTom NV of Netherlands, that help drivers plan where they want to go and how.